Article Text
Abstract
Background The existing Mountbatten intranet site had become outdated and was not user friendly. Employees were struggling to find important documents, this was leading to confusion, inefficiencies, mistakes and discontent.
Aims The vision for our new intranet site was that it would be a central hub where employees would find everything they needed in one location, providing transparency. It would be an interface where they would access all systems and files alongside regular communications, policies, risk assessments, audits, meetings paperwork, guidance in a knowledge base area… and a buy and sell Mountbatten Bay function.
Method A working party was established and the first task was to identify a preferred platform to host the site. The group then looked at the content and layout in consultation with representatives from across all departments. Once this was agreed the focus turned to building the site and then training. The final stage was to support employees with file migration to the new site using a metatag function. A feedback survey is available on the site which employees use to make suggestions for additional content or to recommend changes.
Results The aims of the project have been achieved. Mountbatten’s employees access all files and systems they need in their roles via the new site. All policies, risk assessments and meetings paperwork can be easily retrieved using metatags and a fresh design including news sliders has been well received. The site has delivered a transparency across the organisation and its two hospices which did not exist prior to the launch.
Conclusion The intranet is now the heartbeat of Mountbatten; transparency of the organisation’s information is at its core. It is a great example of an IT system supporting clinical and non-clinical employees in their roles and helps to achieve consistency, efficiency and trust.